I have reported from Asia since covering the "Year of Living Dangerously" in Indonesia, 1965-66, and the war in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the late 1960s-early 1970s for newspapers and magazines, including the Chicago Tribune and the old Washington (DC) Star. I also wrote two books from that period, "Wider War: the Struggle for Cambodia, Thailand and Laos" and "Tell it to the Dead." In recent years I've reported from Korea for the Christian Science Monitor, International Herald Tribune, Forbes Asia, etc. while writing "Korean Dynasty: Hyundai and Chung Ju-yung," "Korea Betrayed: Kim Dae-jung and Sunshine" and, in 2013, "Okinawa and Jeju: Bases of Discontent." I've also reported a lot from Japan, the Philippines and Iraq and spent much of 2013 as a Fulbright-Nehru senior research scholar in India.

The U.S. may have some fence-mending to do with India’s tough-talking, most visible political figure and would-be economic reformer.

That would be Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the country’s prospering Gujarat State, an oasis of economic success on the west coast midway between the capital of Delhi and the financial center of Mumbai. Modi, whom the conservative, Hindu-centric Bharatiya Janata Party has chosen as its candidate for prime minister, is running hard on promises of sweeping economic reforms and a stronger military establishment, while urging Pakistan to give up “the culture of guns, pistols and conception of terror.”

More than any other major political figure on the Indian scene, Modi has fervent admirers and diehard detractors. His fans say he’s what the country needs in order to get on with badly needed economic reforms; his foes call him a divisive figure who has yet to live down communal riots in his home state in 2002 that cost the lives of more than 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.

Among those who have not forgotten, or forgiven, apparently is the U.S. government, which has balked at issuing Modi a visa since the riots in which Modi’s people were implicated even though a special investigation cleared him of complicity last year. A young woman from the State Department, talking in Washington, was all over the Indian networks last weekend saying, primly and properly, that he was free to apply for a visa at any time, the application would be decided on its merits and she could not comment on the outcome.

The U.S. may have to decide in a hurry, however, if Modi’s BJP does well enough to upset the long-ruling but divided Congress Party and others in elections next year for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament, which elects the prime minister. The outcome is sure to test the country’s mettle as a truly secular state that tolerates all religious beliefs even though 80% of the 1.2-billion-plus population are Hindu.

For the U.S., what to do about Modi promises to be a serious headache at a time when U.S.-Indian relations have been on a prolonged upswing, since the days when India was “tilting” toward the old Soviet Union. As India worries about China and Pakistan, Indians cannot help but see Washington as a friendly face — the more so since 3 million or so people of Indian descent live in the U.S.

All those who weren’t born in the USA as automatic citizens presumably somehow got visas to go there. Modi himself has to have innumerable contacts among Indian-Americans, 45% of whom are estimated to have origins in Gujarat. And if Modi were to become prime minister, of course he would want a summit with President Obama, wouldn’t he? Or would the legacy of visa denial stand in the way?

Ask people what they think of Modi, and everyone seems to have a rather strong opinion. Big business is believed to be strongly on his side, considering the breaks that companies have had in Gujarat. On a train ride in northern India, a young banker, when not hovering over his computer and making calls on his iPhone, took the time to tell me that he saw Modi as the great hope to reverse economic losses that he blamed on the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

No, said the young man, he was not from Gujarat, and he was not a member of the BJP. It just was that Modi, while chief minister of Gujarat, had overseen a local economy in which industry flourished while the electricity was always on, water was available and nobody was left to starve.

That’s an assessment that many would strongly dispute, including stolid middle-class Hindus with business backgrounds. Some of whom I’ve spoken see Modi as a trouble-maker whose brash loud talk is stirring up passions that no one needs, when so many people are living on the edge and passions are always simmering at or just below the surface.

A Muslim professor with whom I was chatting the other day was quite soft-spoken in his view of Modi but feared Muslims everywhere would see his rise to the post of prime minister as a threat to their existence. With 180 million Muslims, a number that may actually exceed the population of Islamic Pakistan, the concern is very real.

Just last week, several dozen died in communal violence not far from Lucknow, the capital of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, home of 200 million people, more than one-fourth of them Muslims. In the strategic south-central Indian city of Hyderabad, Muslims comprise about 40% of the population.

The professor foresaw a period of political violence if Modi, who has described himself as a “Hindu nationalist,” takes over. “Trouble could break out anywhere,” he told me. “Who can predict?”

Modi will doubtless try to broaden his appeal. “Narendra Modi and the BJP should now work toward framing inclusive policies,” editorialized the Hindustan Times, one of the major national dailies, urging the party “to transform itself into a government-in-waiting” while “its newly anointed leader will have to start thinking nationally.”

The Times of India, the country’s biggest-selling paper, had similar advice. “Unite, Don’t Divide,” said an editorial. “Modi campaign should be premised on growth, so every tea vendor can be upwardly mobile.”

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I really have to condemn Donald Kirk’s sensationalist journalism, which proclaims Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi as “brash and loud” based on hearsay. The man constantly talks about development and challenges the ruling kleptocracy’s track record on that front. In return, the kleptocracy and its loyalists brand him “brash and loud”, which Donald Kirk happily repeats as fact. The ruling kleptocracy doesn’t want to talk about its lousy record of non-governance, which is of utmost relevance to the public, and so instead it goes out of its way to attack Modi as a “Hitler” and a “fascist”. It is the opposition who are adhering to parliamentary rules of debate and etiquette, while the desperate ruling party are screeching like Chicken Littles and shrieking like shrill demagogues.

The ruling kleptocracy are relentlessly trying to fan flames of sectarian hatred to keep themselves in power, and then blaming the other guy for it. It is they who keep trying to train all debate back onto their favorite subject: “Opposition leader is Hitler, so vote for us instead!” Absolute rubbish.

Ever heard of Godwin’s Law? Reductio Ad Hitlerum. When you’ve nothing good say about yourself, and have no positive track record of your own to stand on, then just claim that your opponent is “another nasty man with a moustache, like from 1930s Europe” – how absolutely disgusting.

Short of raising their own orphans like Ceaucescu did, the ruling party will spare no effort in cultivating their own tribe of die-hard loyalists to fight for the regime to the bitter end. Towards this goal, they are relentlessly stoking up fears among Muslims about Modi, in the hopes of rallying them around the decaying kleptocracy for its defense.

By the way, this is the same ruling kleptocracy whose partymen directly led pogroms to massacre over 10,000 innocent Sikhs in the streets after party leader Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984. The worst massacre in post-partition India — not exactly a snow white record to be pontificating from and pointing accusing fingers at others. (Disclaimer: I am not a Sikh). Let’s also not forget that this same ruling party declared a martial law dictatorship for 2 years, stealing democracy from the people from 1975-77, and has never apologized for it. Yes, even some of the same opposition party leaders of today were arrested back then on trumped up charges 40 years ago.

There is a false caricature being created here by a ruling establishment who continue to conduct themselves with all the arrogance of a One Party State. Whatever they cannot achieve against the political opposition through crude fear-mongering and disingenuous comparisons with Hitler, they will still backhandedly push by referring to the opposition leader as “autocratic”, “arrogant”, “aggressive”, “ambitious”, “loud”, “brash”, etc. Actually listening to Narendra Modi’s own speech shows nothing of the kind.

Thanks for your view, but this is a political statement that bears out the point that Modi has “fervent admirers and diehard detractors.” One hears harsh criticism on both sides, and the noise level is sure to intensify in the run-up to next year’s elections. (By the way, the words “brash and loud” are not quotes. They’re my own observations.)

The fact remains that Modi himself is neither brash nor loud. The ruling Congress is nevertheless quite adept at smear, as well as in playing divide-and-rule. Their goal is not to govern, but merely to hang onto power, which is the source of their privilege.

But I suppose anyone might be deemed brash and loud in comparison to the silent Dragon Lady, Sonia Gandhi, who exerts power quietly from behind her Purdah. She can’t even communicate to any citizen in their own language – sorry, but I don’t speak Italian!

As a result, the ruling Congress Party – which loves to toot its own horn by grandly trumpeting India as the “world’s largest democracy” – completely shields its “leaders” from basic engagements like parliamentary debate. What kind of “democracy” is this?! It sure doesn’t look like any democracy worth the name. And that’s the ruling kleptocracy’s real goal, by the way – to ensure that India is kept a “democracy” merely in name only.

Your article has sought to put scrutiny purely on the opposition, while allowing the ruling party to get off scot-free.

This is standard politics of Atlanticists both in Europe and USA. Often they love to support Islamics except of course when these Islamics come in their way. Then they have no problem in bombing them to the stone age.

What we have from Donald Kirk is this usual duplicity. Try to win brownie points with Islamics by showing how Muslims may be endangered by native cultural assertions in various places in the world, in this case India.

Even if the Muslim miscreants in places like Muzaffarnagar have sufficient blood of innocent Hindus on their hands, Donald Kirk is hardly going to comment on such atrocities. No. Muzaffarnagar, like so many other places in India and elsewhere where at the local level Islamics are willing to increase the level of violence, in all these places, if these are not anywhere near where White Europeans feel threatened from Muslims, Donald Kirk types would always highlight Muslim victimization.

It is a neat game always being played out by Atlanticists, but others are then going to call out you for what you are: White Racist Friends of Jihad Against Non-Whites

Thank you for your comment. I’m not familiar with the term “Atlanticist” but in general demur. My comment was on a series of events with implications for a party and its candidate. It was not an analysis of what happened or who was responsible. I wouldn’t hesitate to comment on Islamic transgressions depending on the situation.

Hi Donald ! First of all let me congratulate you to have the courage to speak truth. I am neither in favor of nor against Mr Modi, but I would like to present the facts distorted by the propagandists here. As a matter of fact, the propaganda machinery in India is in its full gear these days. Raj Too’s comment above are a bundle of lies. He is trying to present Hindus as victims in Muzaffarnagar riots. Though, I have a humanitarian angle to it and for me every human life is precious, be it a Hindu, a Christian or Muslim. In Muzaffarnagar, 99% of the people killed in violence are Muslims. Thousands of people, who are displaced are Muslims. You can search the net to verify it. So, you can imagine how truthful Raj Too is in his rhetoric.

Donald you have not mentioned the rise of modi other than Hindu Muslims relationship. Modi has managed to control the VHP and RSS under his wing. The RSS and VHP that was lose under old BJP leadership was hard on other religious society and often did not listen to a head. Now if he can control the uncontrolled Hindus under his wing. He has never tried to control Muslims and that in contrary America has lots of interest in controlling the Islamic kingdom. Modi could be neutral and not taking side with usa and Islamic kingdom will be hard for usa to digest. A strong Russia can make Iran a strong Islamic kingdom in the near potential future. If modi manage relation with Israeli,Iran, usa, and Russia equally then America has to invest trillion to buy Islamic love and vote. It was easy to control Islamic India and Pakistan under congress party and they have never even thought of having their own kingdom in India. If modi stricken a deal with Iran then Pakistan and Bangladesh including Indian Muslims will have a different kingdom. Buying love with money is a foolish nature. Here they are taking leadership to lead their own people.

Dear Donald , I believe you intend to do real journalism but your info comes from biased Indian media.You need to do some homework to find the real truth and not believe Indian Media houses mostly controlled by current ruling party .(1) You need to research ” Modinama – By Madhu kishwar ” . shows how indian media created negative hype about him (2) Forbes is a very reputed name .The viewers deserve the truth and not malign propoganda against the leader – Totally incorrupt , selfless and a challenge to the status-quo in delhi .

The comments above again illustrate the passions of both sides. All can agree the campaigning next year promises to be significant and exciting. In my few words above, I quoted both sides, citing high praise for Modi before noting the criticism. No, these words were not from the media or activists. The quotes at the end, from two leading papers, underline the need for Modi to broaden his appeal, as he seems to be doing.

Modi is a man in the mould of theodore roosevelt- he speaks loudly with a bigger stick. i hope he comes to power for sake of India. India will become very very powerful if he does and that is not digestible to its enemies- pakistan, US, China and section of Indian muslims who are 5th columnists.

I am sorry but US is definitely not a friend of India. reasons: 1) In 1950s our first PM Jawaharlal Nehru advised US not to make the fight against USSR an ideological one as socialism is as relevant as capitalism. Instead US overthrew several secular socialist regimes like Iran , Chile etc. Today Iran is a fascist islamic regime and US is socialist country. 2) US supported India’s principal foe pakistan throughout 1960s and 70s as pakistan was part of anti communist alliance. Pakistan used its military aid to fight india and lost but US threatened India in 1971 to save pakistan. Today pakistan is US’s greatest threat with taliban and alqaida in kissing distance of nukes. 3) Again India warned US not to meddle in afghanistan when USSR invaded that country (to save its communist government from attacks by pakistani extremists) . But US did not listen. It trained alqaida and mujahideen in afghanistan through ISI which later resulted in blowback. USSR collapsed due to gorbachov’s reforms not afghan defeat.Pakistan meanwhile used US aid in this period to build a nuclear programme with Chinese help. Again this was overlooked by US but India’s nuclear programme was sanctioned.

India has constantly faced US harassment and result is that US today faces combined islamic and chinese threat. Modi who was refused visa on frivolous charge of violating religious freedom when obama, bush and blair have killed millions in muslim countries is not one to forgive and forget. he will forge a partnership of equals with US.

This is rich coming out of Forbes whose CEO Steve Forbes once compared India to Austo- Hungarian empire. Mr. Kirk, you wrote that “communal riots in his home state in 2002 that cost the lives of more than 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.”

Did you fact check this fact or wrote it based on hearsay. As per the Government of India, the death figure for 2002 riots were 952 deaths. Since the number of missing people are considered dead after the expiration of seven years stipulated time, the total number of casualties for 2002 riots stand at 1180. Almost 25% of those killed were Hindus.

Well, of course, the biggest killer of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan is American government under President Bush and Obama. When you fight wars based on lies, you always mean well and negate all the deaths that happened as unavoidable. When a riot happens after the brutal killing of 59 innocent by Muslims and riots happen, it has to be a mass murder. Shame on you and shame on your country.

We are INDIANS.. Not Afghan, Iraki , Terrorist Pakistani or Syrian..Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi was insulted by short sighted U.S.Govt.,so Narendra Modi will never ever think of U.S. visit. If you americans want Indian Market , tell Obama Barak to visit India first and invite Narendra Modi in a open Press Conference..Then we Indians will think what to do..? If you think Narendra Modi is a anti moslem..ok what about vietnam war massacre , tiananmen square massacre , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_anti-Sikh_riots…? Can you remember these genocides…?

Well the fact of the matter is India the only true democracy in south asia is only the ray of hope which surrounded by China, the communist followed by unstable undemocratic islamic countries. Now considering the weakness of electoral politics,the present congress govt. has burried all the vital democratic principles on which it was formed and have entered in specific muslim appeasement politics. Because of such policies the govt has become so weak that they are even afraid curbing terrorism which is very disturbing for the future of the country. Having said that here is man (Modi), who is no nonsense , uncorruptible, decisive , visionary, patriotic etc.(from his track record), who is talking to the people with his solutions/visions which people of this country want to hear, and thats what is appealing to the common man of India. Now as far as USA is consider , its not that USA is not aware of the situation of south asia,but you know uncle sam, is all bullshiting about democracy but never follows that is still trying to gamble even with India, the only democracy of south asia.Since i see that Mr. Modi has a very good chance ,i feel US will be in a very embarassing situation in the coming days and Modi may refuse the the so called ‘US Visa’. I am afraid US will no longer be able to blackmail(all those nuclear deals) India, which it is doing now with the weak government and then Modi being no nonsense and decisive will put US in its right place.

Just because someone doesn’t talk the way you do, doesnt mean they are brash, especially since the two of you are not in the same profession. This article pretends to be neutral, but has an obviously partisan tone: “who has yet to live down communal riots in his home state in 2002 that cost the lives of more than 2,000 people, most of them Muslims”; “A Muslim professor with whom I was chatting the other day was quite soft-spoken in his view of Modi but feared Muslims everywhere would see his rise to the post of prime minister as a threat to their existence.”

“The outcome is sure to test the country’s mettle as a truly secular state that tolerates all religious beliefs even though 80% of the 1.2-billion-plus population are Hindu.” First, I am interested to know where the 80% statistic came from (sounds like very old data), especially since I see their numbers growing exponentially, which has had me SUPER SUPER worried about my own safety. Second, India was secular before the muslims came to India. That’s when the parsees fled their own land where they were being forced to convert to islam or be killed. Did you know that when muslims came to india they forced the majority hindus to pay tax because they were not muslims? It was called jizia. many converted because they could not pay. Nowadays, we live in terror. When a muslim does something wrong its not reported because the reporters are afraid to die or have their families taken from them. That is why no one reported the countless temples that have been torn down by them. While everyone takes every opportunity to malign everything Hindu, especially the press. All the political parties are exploiting these wrongs against the majority because the hindus despite being the majority, STILL try to avoid violence most of the time. When a muslim painter started painting Hindu goddesses in the nude, he was praised and celebrated by the press. This is not secularism. Secularism means thoughts etc that are not based on religious beliefs. But today EVERYTHING in India is based on religious beliefs. Because muslims are united and their clergy tells them to make as many babies as they can, all the politicians want them on their side. That is why people like manmohan singh have the guts to say that muslims have the first right to indian resources. when everyone knows that india was divided into west pakistan east pakistan (now bangladesh) and india because muslims would live in the pakistans and hindus in india. They have successfully killed or converted most of the hindus but we have tried to be secular, so we have lost everything. The laws in India favor so-called minorities, they can refuse to admit or kick Hindu children out of their schools, but hindu establishments cant do the same. Most hindus feel extremely threatened by muslims, their violent ways and their expansion. Today when muslims want to pray they just sit down on the road and block the traffic at will. The policemen are so scared they will not tell them a thing. Hindus are DESPERATELY looking for a way to survive in a land that was once known as the land of the Hindus.

Its sad that the Western world is so totally ignorant of the real situation. But first the UK and then the US will experience this, although they will never feel the deep pain that we hindus in india feel today.

At first, your article had me outraged, then I knew that you cannot perceive the extent of their treachery (soft-spoken, etc as you called them).

Modi does not have a following because he is a hindu nationalist (though I am sure some Hindus feel safer because they believe that the laws will not be changed multiple times against the majority while he is in power). People like me also need more jobs around here…

I do understand the U.S. situation, but politicians always figure it out.

Dear Donald, I must say that, but for a statement or two, for a change your article seems most balanced and nuanced in its position compared to most articles I see in Western media or English language media in India regarding Modi.

Yet while you hint about it, it doesnt seem that you fully recognize a deep seated disenchantment amongst Indian voters cutting across class and religion, especially in urban India. It’s a mix of disenchantment, frustration due to lost opportunities, impatience for development, governance etc.

I have been following politics pretty much avidly for last 16-17 years and there are some new things this time around –

1. You have a personality in Indian politics who in popularity surpasses even Vajpayee at his peak in ’98-’99, though it seems also in terms of number of detractors. 2. You have far more number of urban middle class electorate (BJP’s “India Shining” 2004 election campaign was probably a decade too earlier to be effective) the bulwark of BJP and Modi’s support, 3. Great unhappiness on the economic growth, inflation, scams, foreign policy etc (the first two also affect the poor) 4. Larger number of youth voters who can possibly throw a spanner in the works of typical vote-bank politics dependent parties. These people, especially those part of urban middle class want to see a decisive leadership especially after being disappointed in the weak-kneed leadership of Manmohan Singh

Does the confluence of all these factors really matter or not – Whether urban middle class voters like me will matter or not – only time will tell. But there are many of us who have been too lazy or indifferent to vote earlier, but now see some hope, some opportunity that our vote can create a difference. And our vote cannot be bought for some rupees or liquor – it has to be earned.

All these remarks mean the campaigning is going to be exciting and important for India’s immediate future. I am sure many people will be writing about the disillusionment and disenchantment mentioned here. Will be most interesting to see what happens — and the implications for India-U.S. relations.

So if I read correctly, what the muslim professor is saying is the majority voters in India be it Hindus or Sikhs or any other religion can not elect a strong patriotic leader, who is non corruptible because they think he is anti Muslim. So other voters have to get a certificate from them every time they elect the next prime minster? What hypocrisy. Muslims divided India when it became independent and the other allowed them to live in India since India is secular. But it means they must put nation first before their religion. And elect strong leaders like Modi if he is a patriot without considering his background. He has been proven not guilty by Supreme court of India. If they do not have trust in Indian judiciary or constitution, these people can leave India and settle elsewhere.

I hope the American takes a little time and anlyse the ground realities of Modi and Gujarat. Hope they will not be brats and get fooled by following the Sonia gandhi misleading information on Modi and Gujarata. She will be held responsibile for misleading other countries. By US allies like UK and Australia have thoroughly gone thru this issue and have become partners to Modi and Gujarat. Wish US is not too late, the leadership should be step ahead.

mr kirke, its really surprising to see the poor quality of article without any proper home work… kindly study the number of riots in india since the independence… also study the number of riots in india in last ten years…. you mentioned about recent UP riots…but skipped the incapacity of the ruling party. surprised to see poor quality articles even forbes…

Pls try to understand how many riots in India happended after independence under Indian national congress party. Also more than 10000 sikhs got killed after Indiraghandhi’s assasination by congress supoorters. Why don’t use ban them ?

We have launched a petition to request President Obama to reconsider US Administration’s stand on Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the State of Gujarat, India. Please visit http://www.modi360.com to review and sign this petition.﻿

Donald, I am not surprised by the Biased approach that you have displayed in this article. media has always portrayed him wrongly. You have certainly tried to please your friends of congress by presenting this article in this way but this is not the only lacuna with it. you have presented wrong facts like muslims comprise more than 25 % of Uttar Pradesh population and also exaggerated their total number in India. it has been observed that all efforts of weakening him have gone into vain and you can see it yourself that he has emerged as the strongest and going to form the next strong government in India.

Many thanks for your views — and for so many others expressed above. My intent was to be as balanced as possible. Nope, I don’t have friends inside the Congress. Figures for percentage of Muslims in UP and all India reflect array of sources. Given the complexities of counting, I’m guessing the stats are estimates. Modi may indeed be the strongest figure in Indian politics. Very interesting. Let’s see what happens.

Problem is as reported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Muslim Brotherhood Entourage was out to get Modi at all costs. The intense lobbying, putting resolution against Modi in US legislature body, appeals by the Church Lobby people such as John dayal and Frazer Mascarenhas who used official resources and academic position to ask people not to vote for Modi is a clear sign of interference. Problem is USA was quite happy with a weak, corrupt administration that was subservient to them. Despite Indian embassy being spied upon by US agencies Indian govt did not even put up a feeble protest. Modi would not bow down to US nor be manipulated by them like the current govt. Even David Cohen called him Ronald Reagan of India opposed and disliked intensely by Ultra Leftists of India. BTW Law & Order in India is handled by the States so him becoming PM would have absolutely no impact on local policing and security as such

Why you all are afraid of Modi ? Please bear to acknowledge the truth. The truth is that, Modi puts India first. He is a patriot. He would make sure that India gets its due. You all claim that you want India to become a super power, that it should realize its potential…blah blah blah. Now, when there seems to be a real possibility of this happening, you all are sh** scared. Let me tell me beforehand, in 20 years time India would be the world leader, Modi or no Modi. You can’t escape the inevitable. Do what you want to do. We all are coming.

Many thanks for this wide range of views. We’ll be hearing a lot more in coming weeks, months and years. Will definitely be interesting to learn how Obama and Modi get along. Will both sides let bygones be bygones? Wait and see!